Levi w



(No Model.)

L. W. SMITH.

DRAFT BVENER.

No. 492,995. Patented Mar. '7, 1893.

ATENT LEVI IV. SMITH, OF MILl/VAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO JOSEPH FELDMEYER AND CASSINI A. LYON, OF SAME PLACE.

-DRAFT-EVEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 492,995, dated March '7, 1893.

' Application filed April 11, 1892. Serial No, 428,661. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI W. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and

in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft- Eveners; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object toapply the draft of a team of horses to the front axle of a wagon, equally divide the incidental strain between the horses and concentrate said draft against resistance without causing any whipping about of the wagon-tongue, as well as to provide for a ready disconnection of the whifi le-tree, that forms part of the draft-mechanism, from the equalizing-mechanism and wagon-tongue. These objects I :0 attain by the peculiarities of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings: Figure 1 represents a plan view illustrating the relative arrangement of parts embodied in my invention, in connection with a whiftietree and front axle of a wagon, this axle being broken away in the center for the purpose of better illustration. Fig. 2, a section on line 22 of the preceding figure. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating a clevis, particularly designed for use in connection with an iron axle and therefore somewhat diiferent in the matter of detail from the clevis shown on the wooden axle in Fig. 1.

Referring by letter to the drawings, Arepresents thefront axle of a wagon, B the wagontongue connected to the usual hounds O that are joined to said axle. Pivotally connected to the tongue B is an ordinary whiffletree D having singletrees E joined thereto in the usual manner, and bolted or clipped to the center of the axle is a clevis F for pivotal con- 5 nection with a lug b that extends rearward from the center of a curved plate G, as best illustrated in Fig. 1.

Pivotally connected to eye-bolts H,attached to the axle A, are hangers I for sheaves J,

and chains K, or other suitable devices of a flexible character work on the sheaves, and

are hooked or otherwise detachably connected at their extremities to the plate Grand eyes a on the whiffletree above described.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown an ordinary wooden axle with the clevis F in the form of a plate bolted to the front of said axle and having forwardly extended parallel ears provided with openings for the pivot-pin that connects these cars with the interposed lug b on the curved plate G, but in the succeeding figures I show an iron axle, and in this case the clevis-plate lies against the under side of said axle and is clipped thereto, the clipopenings at the rear of said plate being in the 5 form of slots in order that the clips (1 may be spread or contracted to accommodate axles of various widths.

By the general construction and arrangement of parts above described it will be seen that I gain all the advantages set forth in connection with the device shown and described in my patent No. 410,861, of September 10, 1889, while at the same timeI provide for the ready disconnection of the whiffletree D from the draft-evening mechanism, and I also do away with the stay-chains employed in my former patentto prevent movement of said whiftietree on its pivot, it being essential to this present invention that said whiffletree have free pivotal play on the Wagon-tongue.

As itoften happens that one team is em ployed for two wagons, one being hauled while the other is being unloaded, the advantages of the construction and arrangement of parts above described will be readily apparent, inasmuch as it only requires that the flexible devices K be uncoupled from the whiftletree to permit of the latter, and the team hitched thereto, being detached from one wagon and connected to the other. It also frequently happens that one team is required to help another, and as the Whiftletre'e in the construction above described can be readily detached from the tongue and flexible 9 5 devices of the draft-evener-mechanism, my invention embodies allthe advantages of an ordinary whifiletree in addition to the advantage derived fromsaid draft-evener-mechanism.

Having now fully described my invent-ion, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the wagon-tongue and the axle, a whiflletree having pivotal play on the tongue, sheaves hung on the axle adjacent to its ends, a plate pivoted to said axle midway of the sheaves, and flexible devices that work on the sheaves and detachably connect said plate and whiflletree, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the wagon-tongue and axle a Whiftletree having pivotal play on the tongue, sheaves hung on the axle adjacent to its ends, a clevis rigid on said axle midway of the sheaves, a plate pivotally connected to the clevis, and flexible devices that work on the sheaves and detachably connect the said plate and whiflletree, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the axle having sheaves hung thereon and provided with a clevis that is arranged midway of the sheaves and has a rearward extension provided with clip-openings the rear ones of which are in the form of slots, clips connecting the clevisextension and axle, a plate pivotally connect ed to the olevis, a Whifiletree, and flexible devices that work on the sheaves and connect said plate and whiffletree, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of WVisconsin, in the presence of two witnesses LEVI W. SMITH.

WVitnesses N E. OLIPHANT, JOHN E. WILES. 

